“We’re happy in here; outside is the blasted hellhole wasteland of Trumpland. Be kind to everybody, make art and fight the power,” said Mr. Whitehead at his acceptance speech.
Below are a few links on which to read about The Underground Railroad, which provided a network of secret underground passages for slaves to escape to free states (and Canada).
Yes. Make Art, not War.
The Perilous Lure of the Underground Railroad:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/22/the-perilous-lure-of-the-underground-railroad
The Secret History of the Underground Railroad:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/the-secret-history-of-the-underground-railroad/384966/
PBS: The Underground Railroad:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html
HistoryNet: The Underground Railroad:
http://www.historynet.com/underground-railroad
#ColsonWhitehead #TheUndergroundRailroad
December 20, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Ooh, I need to read that.
December 20, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Stuck it in my wishlist on amazon
December 20, 2016 at 5:18 pm
Hey Jodi Kaplan and Patrick Horgan…there is something so direct, so clear-eyed and unflinching about Whitehead’s gaze in this photo…I don’t know a kind of knowingness. Of course I don’t know him…but the photo alone practically makes me want to read anything he writes. I don’t feel that way often…about Patty Smith, yes, Alice Monroe, Garcia-Marquez. Of course were there no photos I wouldn’t be able to have such a feeling. Strange. Maybe not.
December 20, 2016 at 5:23 pm
And here is a Map of Various Underground Railroad Routes:
en.wikipedia.org – Underground Railroad – Wikipedia
December 20, 2016 at 6:34 pm
Giselle Minoli I worked one season as lighting designer at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon Virginia (near the Hungry Mother State Park – I love that name). During the Civil War the theatre which at the time was a church was part of the underground railroad and the tunnel connecting it to the historic Martha Washington Inn across the street is said to be inhabited by the ghost of a confederate soldier who died chasing runaway slaves.
Today, Barter is one of the last year-round professional resident repertory theaters remaining in the United States.
The current building, originally Sinking Springs Presbyterian Church built in 1833, is the second-oldest theatrical building in the United States.
Many famous actors including Gregory Peck and Ernest Borgnine started their careers there.
During the Civil War the inn was a women’s college turned field hospital and the actors stayed there when the theatre opened in 1933 and the inn also has several “famous” ghosts inhabiting it.
The theatre is so named because during the depression farmers could barter produce for theatre tickets and the produce was used to feed the actors.
September 13, 2017 at 5:15 pm
The Ideology of Greed
The famine enforcing capitalism,
Our enslavement to exploitative greed,
We sow the seeds of our destruction,
As millions starve and choke and bleed.
A selfish decadence blots our vision,
Children crying at night alone,
Global dominance the Western mission,
War-torn families forced from homes.
What of love and hope and beauty?
The ideals and values close to our hearts,
What are we creating for our future?
Burning all bridges here at the start.
Down with a system of decaying virtue,
Dead refugees by the thousands fleeing war,
Just images in the media that cannot hurt you,
When you glorify the rich you villainise the poor.
Bleak Life on Streets
What do you do when you have lost your home?
When you walk the streets at night alone,
When the cold wind cuts you to the bone,
When a life of hardship is all you’ve known.
Cut out of the system by benefit sanctions,
While the world is consumed by consumerist distractions,
Safe from all harm by superficial satisfactions,
When it’s about time somebody took some action.
It’s hard to imagine a life so bleak,
As a person who is forced to live on the streets,
With so many excluded how can society be complete,
When our freedom of speech is only freedom to compete.
With more people laid off through downsizing corporations,
No employment or career is guaranteed by the nation,
So it shall be that after a decade of ideological hesitation,
Thousands take to the streets in political demonstration.
©Alan Peter Garfoot (2017)
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